About

Kevin Allen is a music educator and professional musician. He specializes in guitar, bass, mandolin, mandola and tenor banjo. He’s practice has spanned more than 30 years and he has taught thousands of students, performance, composition, music theory and how to play for pure pleasure. He is skilled in teaching and playing all styles of music from all genres. The distinct music theory methods he has developed, along with his expertise and experience enables him to deliver outstanding, unique and highly individualized music instruction to children as well as adults no matter what their level might be. Kevin’s students have graduated his program and gone on to study at prestigious institutions such as Julliard, The Manhattan School of Music and Berkley College of Music. Their careers in music include teaching, composing, for television and movies, music therapy and professional performance.

As a professional musician Kevin has worked in most every venue. Kevin has worked in television, radio, Celtic concerts, recording studio, off Broadway plays, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, weddings, corporate events, restaurants, bars and cafes. He has also performed on fourteen albums and CDs.

For over 10 years, in partnership with Alternative Forms of Therapy(AFT), Kevin worked with licensed mental health counselors, using his skills and knowledge to help design innovative and grop music therapy programs for children and adults with special needs including autism, PDD, Cerebral Palsy, mental disabilities and ADHD.

Kevin has attended seminars at the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy in New York City. These seminars focused on using music improvisation, creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music in the context of a therapeutic relationship to address physical emotional, cognitive and social needs of individuals. He planned and implemented music therapy programs in day treatment centers, nursing homes, schools and rehabilitative facilities including Developmental Disabilities Institute, Association for the Help of Retarded Children, United Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County, Working Organization for Retarded Children and Port Washington Children’s Center. Kevin incorporates many of the concepts of music therapy into teaching programs designed for children and adults with special needs.